The population of Congo faces a legacy of violence and suffering from Belgian colonization.

247 The relationship between Belgium and the Congo is one of the darkest chapters in colonial history, marked by the brutal and excessive exploitation of Congolese resources and population. According to scholar Franco Alencastro, who holds a master's degree in international relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), unlike most African colonies, the Congo was a "personal project" of King Leopold II of Belgium.

"The case of the Congo, of the colonization of the Congo by Belgium, is a little different from what we normally think of as colonization," he pointed out, emphasizing that the Congo was not a formal colony of Belgium, but rather a private property of the monarch.

"The Congo, in fact, was like the private property of a single person. It [the country] didn't belong to Belgium; it was a society, a group belonging to Leopold, like a farm, a large farm belonging to him," said Alencastro, who is also responsible for the podcast 54 countries and participated in the Mundioka podcast, from Sputnik Brasil.

Leopold II, at the head of the Congo Free State, created the facade of a "philanthropic organization" with the International Congo Association, which supposedly aimed to promote free trade and combat slavery.

"The International Association of the Congo was, in essence, officially a philanthropic organization to help promote civilization, free trade, and the fight against slavery," Alencastro stated.

But this mask of benevolence concealed brutal exploitation, in which the local population was forced to work on rubber and ivory plantations under inhumane conditions. 

The historian warned of the contrast between the public image and the realities behind the curtain: "Much of the Congo's territory was parceled out to private companies, many of which were primarily owned by King Leopold, but also had other powerful shareholders in Europe."

According to Alencastro, the atrocities committed in the Congo were responsible for the deaths of millions of people. "It is estimated that between 8 and 20 million people died in the Congo during the nearly 30 years it was under the control of the Congo Free State, led by King Leopold," said the historian.

The expert also mentioned campaigns that revealed these abuses, such as the work of British journalist Edmund Morel and diplomat Roger Casement, who exposed the exploitation and crimes against the Congolese population.

"He realized that trade between Belgium and the Congo Free State was strange. How can a country import only weapons and chains?" Alencastro commented, referring to Morel's analysis, which triggered a global campaign for justice.

Alencastro also reflected on the nature of a possible genocide in Congo, pondering: "Genocide is an attempt to exterminate a people. In the case of Congo, there was no policy of exterminating the Congolese people, but rather of exploiting the population to extract wealth."

Although King Leopold's intention was not to exterminate the people, the consequences were devastating for the local population, who suffered forced labor, torture, mutilation, and immense abuse.

According to Alencastro, the impact of this colonial violence still reverberates in contemporary Congo. "Today, Cape Verde has a GDP [gross domestic product] per capita eight times greater than the Democratic Republic of Congo," he highlighted, mentioning that the legacy of colonization contributed to the country's underdevelopment.

Furthermore, he pointed to internal factors, such as corruption under the regime of former President Mobutu Sese Seko, which further hampered Congo's development after independence. "Mobutu managed to amass a fortune of billions before being overthrown in 1997," the expert stated.

Today, despite Belgium's participation in peacekeeping missions in Africa, such as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), it is frequently criticized for its colonial past and its involvement in regional conflicts (with Sputnik).